Feb. 3, 2013

Written by

David Young

Trails to Taps

This year the Coloradoan will do just that, and in the words of one of my favorite fictional journalists Ron Burgundy it’s “kind of a big deal.”

And while you can act like you’re not impressed, 140 years is a long time for any company to stay in business.

In 1873 when The Coloradoan started as the Larimer County Express, life looked a lot different here. For one thing there weren’t nearly a half a dozen breweries in Fort Collins offering some of the best brews in the country.

In honor of our anniversary, we decided to enlist the help of one of those breweries to celebrate.

Doug Odell, co-owner of Odell Brewing Co., was gracious enough to agree to help the Coloradoan concoct a special 140th anniversary beer.

Odell has previously brewed beers for local businesses including The Silver Grill Cafe and the Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant.

As a beer reporter, I will help develop the recipe, brew the beer and write about the experience.

We’re still in the planning stages of the collaboration, and by “planning” I mean drinking beer. The hard-working crew assembled here at the Coloradoan to help create this beer has the first task of narrowing down what style of beer we want to make.

As a reporter, my first thought was a stout coffee porter. You know, a big beer that you can dig into after deadline. However, I was quickly reminded that many people don’t enjoy the “bigger” beers and we’re trying to create a beer anyone might enjoy.

That leaves something perhaps a bit more sessionable. Odell gave us a sample of a new session beer they’re working on that was quite tasty.

Given the full resources of Odell Brewing, what would you come up with? I’d be interested in hearing what you’d like to brew given the green light for creativity.

We plan to unveil this brew to the community in April at our 140th birthday party, which is still in the planning stages.

David Young covers beer, bikes and healthy living for the Coloradoan. Reach him at davidyoung@coloradoan.com or (970) 224-7857.